Bahrain has officially sought an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council under the agenda item “The situation in the Middle East”, with regional security developments in the Gulf expected to form the core of the deliberations, Al Jazeera reported early on Thursday, November 12. The Council session has been scheduled for Thursday afternoon in New York.

Source: ANI via DevDiscourse — UN Security Council to meet on ‘situation in the Middle East’, Nov 12, 2026

3:10 pmscheduled start of the Security Council meeting in New York on Thursday, November 12 (20:10 GMT)
10270thmeeting number listed for the session in the UN's official broadcast schedule
Nov 12date Bahrain's request was reported, by Al Jazeera and carried by ANI

Who is expected to brief the Council

United Nations broadcast schedules indicate the session is set for 3:10 pm New York time (20:10 GMT), although no speakers had been formally registered on the roster when the reports were published. According to Al Jazeera, the independent research organisation Security Council Report, which monitors the Council's proceedings, has indicated that formal briefings are expected from Jasem Mohamed AlBudaiwi, Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), alongside a senior representative of the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA). The UN's own Web TV service lists the sitting as the Security Council's 10270th meeting, on “The situation in the Middle East”, dated November 12, 2026.

Source: UN Web TV — The situation in the Middle East, Security Council 10270th meeting, Nov 12, 2026

Why the Gulf is taking this to the Council now

The wider Middle East is experiencing overlapping military, political and humanitarian crises following the outbreak of US-Israeli military operations targeting Iran in February 2026, and the Gulf states sit directly in that line of fire: the Strait of Hormuz, the route for roughly a fifth of the world's seaborne oil, has been obstructed and attacked, and Gulf capitals have faced missile and drone threats through the war. A Council meeting requested by a Gulf state itself puts the Gulf's security case — rather than only Washington's, Tehran's or Jerusalem's — formally in front of the 15-member body charged with maintaining international peace and security. For the lakhs of Punjabi and Indian workers who live and work across Bahrain and the other Gulf states, the Council's handling of Gulf security is not distant diplomacy: it bears directly on their safety, their flights home and their remittances.

The meeting was requested a day after Israel's security cabinet was reported to have ordered its military to step up preparations for a possible new attack on Iran — the development that raised the escalation temperature across the region this week. Read the Israel security cabinet story

The request also follows this week's G7 foreign ministers' meeting in Paris, whose joint statement committed the group to fully implementing the reinstated UN snapback sanctions on Iran, demanded an end to Iranian attacks on civilian vessels in the Strait of Hormuz with no tolls or fees on transit, and recognised Britain's attribution of Iran's involvement in the September 27 incident at RAF Fairford. Bahrain's move takes that same cluster of issues — Hormuz shipping, attacks on Gulf states and Iran's missile and nuclear programmes — from a G7 statement into the Security Council chamber itself.

What is solid

  • Bahrain has sought an urgent Security Council meeting under the agenda item ‘The situation in the Middle East’, with Gulf regional security expected at the core of the deliberations (Al Jazeera, reported Nov 12 and carried by ANI)
  • The UN broadcast schedule lists the Security Council's 10270th meeting on ‘The situation in the Middle East’ on November 12, 2026, and reports put the start at 3:10 pm New York time (20:10 GMT)
  • No speakers had been formally registered on the roster when the reports were published; briefings by GCC Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed AlBudaiwi and a senior UN DPPA official are expected, per Security Council Report via Al Jazeera

What is only claimed

  • What the meeting will produce — a statement, a resolution attempt or only an exchange of positions — has not been announced, and no outcome should be assumed before the Council sits
  • The claims each side brings into the chamber about attacks and responsibility in the Gulf remain contested between the parties; this report states only what has been scheduled and who requested it

What happens next

The Council sits on Thursday afternoon, New York time. The briefings by the GCC Secretary-General and the UN political affairs official will set the terms, after which Council members — including the five permanent members, whose divisions over Iran and Gaza have repeatedly limited Council action through this war — will state their positions. Any agreed outcome would need to be announced after the meeting; Awaaz Punjab will update this coverage when the Council's deliberations conclude.